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Columns and Editorials

Late last week, Kentucky lost one of its true statesmen with the passing of former U.S. Senator Wendell Ford.

Since then, there have been numerous accolades about his many accomplishments in Washington, D.C. – from helping to write and pass the Family and Medical Leave Act to promoting Kentucky’s signature coal and tobacco industries – but it is worth noting that several actions taken during his time as governor continue to benefit Kentuckians today.

If that is the case, I was witness to a very rare history-making event and I almost missed it.

At the beginning of last week’s Henry County Public Schools Board of Education meeting, Miranda Clubb was named the chair of the board. It was an agenda item that could have easily been overlooked and it happened so quickly and quietly, I had little time to jump up and grab a quick picture to preserve the moment.

“Creating Kentucky jobs and strengthening Kentucky families” — this is how our caucus defined the overall goals of the Senate this session, and I’m proud to report that four of our priority bills to accomplish those objectives passed the Senate in our first week and are now on the way to the House.

Unexpectedly, I felt a burst of Evansville, Ind., hometown pride while talking to New Castle Main Street Manager Jeff Thoke last week.

It didn’t occur to me while seeking the history of the city’s Locker building — on which there’s still a lot of blanks to fill in, if anybody out there would like to help — several artifacts from 160 miles away would turn up.

As I sit to write this, the sun, which has been absent too many days, is shining brightly and streaming in through my window. Just outside the window a redbird perches on a fence, taking in the brilliance of the sun and reflecting it through his red feathers.

I wanted to thank all the Henry Countians who donated Christmas Cards (old and new) to Henry County’s Disabled American Veterans Auxiliary. With your help we reached our goal of 1,000 cards. The cards were distributed to the Veterans’ Hospitals in Louisville and Lexington, as well as the Providence and Twin Oaks homes in Henry County.
Next year with your help, we hope to include residents at additional veterans’ facilities. Now is the time to start saving cards for next year’s project.

By today’s standards, it’s not much of a show.
There are no flashing lights, no loud, chest-thumping music and very few moving parts.
By all accounts, the annual Living Nativity in Bethlehem should be a real snooze-fest.
To the contrary, the manger scene held nightly in the little town of Bethlehem is amazingly captivating.

With the Ebola virus, as with anything, how worried you should be requires perspective.
With this week’s revelation about deadly airbags, it appears American citizens are at four times greater risk from having a fatal accident with their own vehicular safety device than dying from the outbreak of the virus that causes hemorrhagic fever.
One wag with an Internet meme referenced the danger from the disease more humorously: Country Singer Taylor Swift has broken up with more boys than Americans that suffer from Ebola.